I recently returned from some professional development training where situations arose that triggered emotional responses within me. A friend pointed out that these situations arose to mirror representations within me. The closer I looked at the situations that triggered me, I saw that my friend was right.

I recently watched an interview between a human rights activist and a woman speaking on behalf of mothers. The topic discussed was the controversial recommendation by the British Medical Association for doctors to refer to pregnant women not as “expectant mothers” but as “pregnant people.” The decision is an attempt to recognize the rights of transgender individuals.

Seeking your soulmate this Valentine’s? The modern definition of soulmate usually infers a romantic relationship. If we expand the definition, however, to include anyone who influences your life one way or another, then potentially everyone in your life is your soul mate.

Cultures around the world have similar customs at the start of the New Year. There is a time of reflecting on the year that has passed and a setting of intentions for the year to come. Many people use the occasion to make resolutions for self-improvement and transformation.

We are in the season of religious festivities. This was my thought as I started this article but then I looked at interfaith celebration dates throughout the year and saw that from one month to the next the number of holy days is fairly equal and is surprisingly high.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so the expression goes. In one episode of the American television series, The Twilight Zone, a beautiful woman tries to undergo a procedure to disfigure her face because the society in which she lives views her as ugly. It is her attempt to gain acceptance. At one point in the story, a doctor describes the woman’s face as “the face of her real self”. Although I would argue that a person’s face does not reflect their “real self”, the implied message is to look beyond the surface to see the beauty that lies within a person.

A trip home to Canada this summer put me squarely in the midst of the Pokémon Go phenomenon. This wildly popular mobile game has its players chasing digital characters in ‘augmented reality’ — real world environments augmented by computer-generated effects.

Our planet is in the midst of turbulent times. The rate at which we are informed of tragic global events can have a negative impact on our psyche. The media tends to highlight all that is wrong in the world, painting a bleak picture of humanity.